Effectiveness and comparison of citronella and scentless spray bark collars for the control of barking in a veterinary hospital setting.

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a citronella bark collar and a new, scentless spray bark collar in a veterinary hospital or a similar kennel-type environment. Forty-one dogs were included in the study. The efficacy of each collar was evaluated independently in comparison to control as well as in a crossover design. Thirty of the dogs were evaluated with the citronella collar, with 76.7% showing a reduction in barking. Twenty-nine dogs were evaluated with the scentless collar, with 58.6% showing a reduction in barking. The improvement over the control collars was statistically significant with both the citronella and scentless collars.